Objected to as hearsay evidence. Admitted. Exception. A. He said these parties were authorized to make negotiations. Q. That is, Byron, McNichols, and Conkling? A. Yes, sir. Q. State when you first saw either of these men in regard to the Meteor? A. About the 1st of December.

Q. State what was said by them, or either of them, in regard to the Meteor; give the first conversation? A. Mr. Byron called first at the office about the 1st of December, and asked me if I had any sea-going steamers for sale. I asked him what kind he wished; and he said he wished to purchase three or four good fast sea-going steamers. I made a memoranda of it, and told him I would see if I could look up such ones as he wanted. He called again the next day, and I gave him a list of two or three steamers; I think one was the Ericsson, and the Cumberland, and the Georgia, and the Meteor.

Q. This vessel in controversy? A. Yes, sir; I handed him the list, and then the next day he brought McNichols and Conkling, and introduced them to me as the principals.

Q. State what he said, if you please? A. When I gave him the list, I asked him who he wished the vessel for. He told me that he would bring the parties to the office; he brought these parties to the office, and introduced them as his principals. I asked him if either of the steamers would suit them.

Q. State what conversation you had at that time with McNichols and Conkling? A. They had seen the list of vessels, and I asked them if any of these vessels would suit them. They told me that the Meteor was the vessel they wanted, that had been selected from the list; then they asked me if I could get the price of the Meteor. I told them that I would communicate with the owners of the Meteor, and I communicated with the owners, and they called again.

Q. Whom did you communicate with? A. With Mr. Forbes, of Boston, that is, I communicated with my brother, H. H. Wright, who was in Boston, first; I sent him a dispatch to see Mr. Forbes, and get a price for the Meteor; my brother was in Boston on a visit.

Q. Did you receive any communication from Mr. Forbes on the matter? A. I got a reply from my brother.

Q. Did you receive any letters from Mr. Forbes? A. I did. Q. Did you write him any? A. I did.

Q. Have you got those letters? A. I have got a copy, which I was ordered to produce here under subpena.

The government calls for the original letter to Forbes. It is not produced.

Q. What is this paper? A. This is a copy of my letter to R. B. Forbes, Esq., of Boston, dated December 12, 1865.

Q. Did you receive a letter from Forbes in reply to that? A. Yes, sir.

Counsel for the government reads in evidence letter from the witness to R. B. Forbes, dated December 12, 1865, which is marked Ex. G.

R. B. Forbes, Esq., Boston :

DEAR SIR,

NEW YORK, December 12, 1865.

We telegraphed our Mr. H. H. Wright, at your city, to obtain from you the price of the Meteor, subject to a commission of five per cent. to us, and have his reply offering the ship at $350,000. In your absence, we called on Messrs. Cary & Co., who furnished us particulars which we have handed to our parties. They have made a slight inspection of the ship, and propose sending their engineers on board to-morrow, when, if they mean business, we shall be prepared to make an offer. Mr. Cary has called on us to-day, and says he is the party through whom the purchase is to be made. We telegraphed as above, supposing you were the only party. Please set us right on this point, as we do not wish any collision, should we effect a sale.

sir.

(Signed)

Yours truly,

CHARLES L. WRIGHT & CO.

Q. You say you received a letter in answer to that? A. Yes,

Q. Look at this paper, and state what it is? A. That is the answer I received from J. M. Forbes & Co.

Counsel for the government reads letter in evidence, which is marked Ex. H.:

BOSTON, 13th, 1865.

GENTLEMEN,- Anything which the Messrs. Cary engage, will be duly ratified

by us.

To Messrs. C. L. WRIGHT & Co.

Truly,

J. M. FORBES & CO.,

Agents steamship Meteor.

Q. On the receipt of the last letter, Ex. H, state whether you wrote another letter to J. M. Forbes & Company. A. I think I acknowledged the receipt of that.

Q. Is this a copy of the letter you sent them? A. It is.
Letter read in evidence, and marked Ex. I.

Messrs. J. M. Forbes & Co., Boston:

GENTLEMEN,

56 SOUTH STREET, NEW YORK.

We have your favor of yesterday. We will arrange all matters with Mr. Cary, according to your request. Some matters of detail have prevented us from making an offer for a day or two, but we are quite confident that we shall shortly be in shape to close with you.

We are, very truly,

(Signed)

CHARLES L. WRIGHT & CO.

Q. Did you have any further interview with either of these parties? A. I did.

Q. With which of them? A. With Mr. Byron. I remember Mr. Byron was the prime actor in this, particularly with me.

Q. With any of the others? A. I do not remember whether, on the day I received the answer, they came with him.

Q. After you received that letter from Boston, from Forbes & Co., did you, or not, see Mr. Cary? A. I did.

Q. Is he in Court? A. Yes, sir, Wm. F. Cary.

Q. On what day did you see him? A. I think I saw him on the day I telegraphed to my brother, or the day that I wrote the letter, on the 11th or 12th of December.

Q. Was it before or after you had received the letter from Forbes & Co. ? A. I think about the same time.

Q. Where did you see him? A. At our office in South street. Q. At the time that you saw him, state who were there? A. Byron, McNichols, and Conkling were in the private office when Mr. Cary came.

Q. Did you have a conversation with Mr. Cary at that time? A. Yes, sir.

Q. In regard to what? A. Mr. Cary understood I had been communicating with Mr. Forbes about the ship Meteor. Mr. Cary told me that he has as much to say about the ship as Mr. Forbes had; that is the reason I wrote the letter to Mr. Forbes.

Q. Go on and state what conversation took place between you and Mr. Cary in regard to the steamship? A. I telegraphed first to my brothers; I suppose it was the effect of that telegraph that brought Mr. Cary into my office.

Q. You speak now of the interview in which Mr. Cary told you that he had as much to do with the Meteor as Mr. Forbes?

A.

Yes; I told Mr. Cary that I had parties who, I thought, would buy the ship, and that I would communicate with him as soon as I could do so definitely.

Adjourned to 11 o'clock to-morrow.

FOURTH DAY, TUESDAY, April 3d.

At the opening of the Court, the District Attorney asked leave to introduce a witness, out of order, who wanted to leave.

TESTIMONY OF JAMES K. FORD.

James K. Ford sworn.

Q. Where do you reside? A. In Brooklyn.

Q. What is your business? A. I am in the storage business. Q. Have you a public store in Brooklyn? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you know the steamboat Meteor? A. I have seen her as she lay at the dock.

Q. Do you recollect of some guns being removed from her and placed in your store? A. There were some guns placed in my charge, but I never knew where from; she was not at my wharf. Q. Were they brought to your store? They were, sir. Q. What kind of guns were they?

guns called Parrott guns.

Q. How many were there? A. Two.

A. I believe they were

Q. By whom were they placed in your store? A. By the firm of Cary & Co; by Mr. Smith, acting for that firm, I suppose.

Q. What day of the month were they placed there? A. I took a memorandum from my book, which shows it was on the 18th of January, 1866.

Q. Was anything said by Mr. Smith or Mr. Cary, or either of them, in regard to where these guns came from? A. No, sir.

Q. Was there anything else but the guns? A. There were some appurtenances connected with the guns.

Q. What were they? A. Eleven cases, supposed to contain shell or shot, six gun tackles, one piece of breech, two tompions, one lever, four loading and cleaning tools, and one crank.

Q. Anything else? A. Nothing else.

Cross-examined.

Q. Were you there when the guns came to the store? A. Yes,

Q. How do you know that Mr. Smith placed them there? A. My recollection is, that he came himself with them.

TESTIMONY OF C. L. WRIGHT, RESUMED.

C. L. Wright again examined.

Q. When the Court adjourned yesterday, you had got to the point of your testimony where Mr. Cary came to your place. State, if you please, what there and then was said between you and Mr. Cary? A. That was on the 12th or 13th of December.

Counsel for claimant objects to any conversation by Mr. Cary at this time, on the ground that it was before the witness received the letter from Mr. Forbes, authorizing Mr. Cary to act.

Q. Was it after you received this letter of 13th December? A. About that time.

Q. State what took place at that interview in your office? Counsel for claimants objects. Admitted. Exceptions taken. A. I replied to Mr. Cary that we would treat through him for the purchase of the steamboat, and when we could get anything definite I would call on him. The conversation was very short at that time. I think that was all that was said.

Q. On that interview, state whether McNichols, Byron, and Conkling were in your office. A. I think they were in the inside office.

Q. In this interview was anything said by you to Cary as to who your principals were? A. I think not, sir.

Q. When did you next see Mr. Cary? A. I think within a day or two; either the next day or the day after.

Q. Where did you see him? A. At our office.

Q. Who was present at that time? A. Those same parties were in the inside office: Byron, McNichols, and Conkling.

Q. Did you have a conversation with Mr. Cary? A. Mr. Cary at that time wished to know who my principals were, and I immediately went into the inside office and asked these men, and insisted upon knowing who their principals were.

Q. When Mr. Cary asked of you to know who your principals were, did you say anything to him at that time and before you went in to the other men? A. I told him I believed the parties represented the Chilian government.

Q. And then you went into the inner room and saw these parties? A. Yes, sir.